Water spray cooling system

ABSTRACT

A spray cooling system employing a pump and spray heads in a flowing stream of water. Baffles are provided in the stream to insure that the hot surface water will not flow past the pump without being forced through the spray heads. Openings are provided through the lower portions of the baffles well below the level of the pump intake.

United States Patent 1191 1111 3,869,087 Erickson 51 Mar. 4, 11975 4] WATER SPRAY COOLING SYSTEM 3,061,276 10/1962 Homan 165/14 3,622,074 11/1971 F h e k 261/120 X [75] Inventor: Barry Emksmr Cmcmnm Ohm 3,785,558 1/1974 A l rit w n et a1. 261/120 X [73] Assignee: Allis-Chalmers Corporation,

Milwaukee, Wis. Primary E.ram1'/1er-M. Henson Wood, Jr. Assistant E,\(IHIiI1IAl'ldlS Kashnikow [22] Filed 1973 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-John 1P. Hines [21] Appl. No.: 397,130

[57] ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl 239/128, 261/36 R, 261/120 A spray Cooling system employing a pump and spray [51] Int. Cl. B051) 17/08 ads in a fl ng str am f at r. Baffles are pro- [58] Field of Search 261/84, 91, 36 R, 120, vided in the stream to insure that the hot surface 261/116; 239/128, 11, 110 water will not flow past the pump without being forced through the spray heads. Openings are pro- [56] References Cited vided throughthe lower portions of the baffles well UNITED STATES PATENTS below the level of the pump intake.

1,233,119 7/1917 Parker 239/110 6 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures WATER SPRAY COOLING SYSTEM This invention pertains to water cooling systems in general and more particularly to that type of water cooling system which employs spraying the water into the atmosphere to obtain the cooling effect.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Water is utilized as a cooling agent for many needed processes and most everyone is aware of the serious problem of thermal pollution of water. Power generating plants, particularly of the atomic energy type, require tremendous volumes of water for cooling purposes and Government regulations have become quite strict in controlling the temperature of the water discharged from such plants.

A number of different approaches have been made to cool the water before it is returned to the stream or lake from which it was originally taken. Perhaps the most common type of cooling system is the utilization of cooling towers. Such a system is disclosed in US Pat. No. 3,061,276 issued to R. M. Homan Oct. 30, 1962.

Another system of cooling water is the spray cooling system, examples of which are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,233,1l9 issued to L. H. Parker July I0, 1917 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,622,074 issued to Paul A. Frohwerk Nov. 23, 1971. In the past, cooling towers have been used more extensively than spray cooling because a greater degree of cooling could be obtained with less horsepower requirements. However, recently more efticient spray nozzles and utilization of the spray system makes this spray system more competitive with the cooling tower for many applications.

It is the intention of this invention to more efficiently utilize the pumping horsepower requirements in a spray cooling system. It is known that the hotter water in a pond or stream will rise to the surface. Therefore, if the spray cooling system is so designed that only the hotter surface water is forced through the spray heads, the horsepower of the system will not be wasted in spraying water which is already at an acceptable low temperature.

To this end, it is the intention and a general object of this invention to provide a water spray cooling system which more efficiently utilizes the pumping horsepower requirements than previously known systems.

A further object of this invention is to provide a water spray cooling system in a flowing body of water with means for directing the hotter surface water to the pump intake and prohibiting such hotter surface water from bypassing the pump.

An additional object of this invention is to provide a water spray cooling system of the hereinbefore described type wherein the spray pump inlet is located as close to the surface of the water without sucking air and the baffle extends at least below the level of the pump inlet.

A more specific object of the subject invention is to provide a water spray cooling system of the hereinbefore described type wherein the capacity of the pump is greater than the volume of hotter water being baffled to the pump inlet.

These and other objects of the subject invention will become more fully apparent as the following description is read in light of the attached drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan schematic view of a water spray cooling system constructed in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged front elevation taken along the lines II-ll of FIG. I; and

FIG. 3 is a left end elevation of FIG. 2.

Referring to the drawings, a flowing stream of water is generally designated as 6. The hotter water is received from the left end of the stream from a source such as a power generating plant and is discharged from the right into the water reservoir or lake from which the water was originally drawn for the power generating plant.

As shown herein forpurposes of illustration, two spray cooling units generally designated 7 are disclosed. It should be understood that any number of similar units could be utilized depending on the amount of cooling necessary without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Each spray cooling unit 7 includes a pump motor combination 8 which is mounted on a support 9. This support may either be a float or as shown herein for purposes of illustration may be supported by legs 11 extending to the bottom of the stream 6. The pump 12 may be driven by an electric motor 13 or any other source of rotary power. The pump inlet I4 is located as close to the surface of the water as is possible without permitting the pump to suck in air. The pump discharge 16 is connected by means of piping 17 to a plurality of spray heads 18. Depending on the capacity of the pump, any reasonable number of spray heads can be serviced by one pump and for purposes of illustration four spray heads are shown herein connected to each pump. The spray heads are supported by floats 19 which also may or may not be rigidly supported by feet extending to the bottom of the stream.

A baffling arrangement which is an integral part of this water spray cooling system is employed to direct the hotter surface water to the pump inlet. If the hotter surface water is permitted to flow past the pump inlet, the spray cooling units are not being most efficiently used. To this end, an inlet baffle wall 21 extends from the hot water inlet 22 parallel to the stream flow between the pump inlet 14 and the four spray heads 18. The downstream end of this baffle wall terminates in contact with a diagonally extending baffle wall 23 which extends from one side of the stream 6 toward the other side and connects to an additional baffle wall 24 which extends between the next downstream pump and the connected spray heads 18. The baffle wall 24 extends to an additional diagonal baffle 26 so as to com pletely isolate the pump from the connected spray heads. The diagonal baffle wall 26 could extend to an additional wall to isolate any subsequent spray cooling unit pumps from the connected spray heads. In this instance, however, for purposes of illustration the diagonal baffle wall 26 extends to the cooler water outlet 27.

In some instances, it is desirable to have a pump capacity greater than the capacity of water flowing into the isolated area about the pump inlet defined by the baffles. This is to insure that all water flowing into the isolated area will be forced through the spray heads. In such case, it is necessary to have a passage through the baffle to insure sufficient water circulation for the pump. To this end, as best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, openings are provided through the lower ends of the baffles. It should be noted that these openings 28 through the baffles are substantially below the level of the pump inlet 14 to insure that the pump will draw the hotter surface water into the pump inlet rather than the cooler water from the larger isolated area of the spray heads. I

With this arrangement of baffling and pump inlet location, a more efficient use of the spray cooling system is insured. The hotter surface water is forced to flow through the pump and through the spray heads before any of the cooler deeper water passes through the pump.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

l. A system for cooling water in a continually flowing stream having a layer of relatively hotter water at the surface of said stream, said system comprising:

a plurality of pumps having their intakes located in said stream in spaced relation to one another;

a plurality of water spray heads connected to the discharge of said pumps to receive the hotter water therefrom and spray said water into the atmosphere above the stream to cool same; and

baffle means positioned insaid stream defining a pump area and a spray head area, said baffle means prohibiting the flow of said hotter surface water from bypassing said pump intakes.

2. The system set forth in claim 1 and further comprising walls defining an opening through said baffle means to connect said pump and spray head areas in water communication and wherein the intakes to said pumps are located above said openings through said baffle means.

3. The system set forth in claim 2 wherein the intakes to said pumps are located closer to the surface of said water than to said openings through said baffle means.

4. The system set forth in claim 2 wherein the capacities of said pumps are greater than the flow of hotter water thereto thereby insuring a recirculation of said water from said spray head area through said opening to said pump area.

5. A system for cooling water in a continually flowing stream having a layer of relatively hotter water at the surface of said stream, said system comprising:

a pump having its intake located in said stream;

at least one water spray head connected to the discharge of said pump to receive hotter water therefrom and spray said water into the atmosphere above the stream to cool same; and

baffle means positioned in said stream defining a pump area and a spray area, said baffle means prohibiting the flow of said hotter surface water from bypassing said pump intake, said baffle means including walls defining an opening therethrough connecting said pump and spray head areas in water communication said intake to said pump being located above said opening through said baffle.

6. The system set forth in claim 5 wherein said pump inlet is located as close as possible to the surface of said stream without drawing air into said pump. 

1. A system for cooling water in a continually flowing stream having a layer of relatively hotter water at the surface of said stream, said system comprising: a plurality of pumps having their intakes located in said stream in spaced relation to one another; a plurality of water spray heads connected to the discharge of said pumps to receive the hotter water therefrom and spray said water into the atmosphere above the stream to cool same; and baffle means positioned in said stream defining a pump area and a spray head area, said baffle means prohibiting the flow of said hotter surface water from bypassing said pump intakes.
 2. The system set forth in claim 1 and further comprising walls defining an opening through said baffle means to connect said pump and spray head areas in water communication and wherein the intakes to said pumps are located above said openings through said baffle means.
 3. The system set forth in claim 2 wherein the intakes to said pumps are located closer to the surface of said water than to said openings through said baffle means.
 4. The system set forth in claim 2 wherein the capacities of said pumps are greater than the flow of hotter water thereto thereby insuring a recirculation of said water from said spray head area through said opening to said pump area.
 5. A system for cooling water in a continually flowing stream having a layer of relatively hotter water at the surface of said stream, said system comprising: a pump having its intake located in said stream; at least one water spray head connected to the discharge of said pump to receive hotter water therefrom and spray said water into the atmosphere above the stream to cool same; and baffle means positioned in said stream defining a pump area and a spray area, said baffle means prohibiting the flow of said hotter surface water from bypassing said pump intake, said baffle means including walls defining an opening therethrough connecting said pump and spray head areas in water communication said intake to said pump being located above said opening through said baffle.
 6. The system set forth in claim 5 wherein said pump inlet is located as close as possible to the surface of said stream without drawing air into said pump. 